The NRA has won

According to reports the shooter at the theater in Aurora, Colorado used three weapons,

an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 870 12-gauge shot gun and a .40 caliber Glock handgun.  He apparently had another .40 caliber Glock handgun in his car.  He was able to purchase these guns and transport them legally.  He might not have even needed to have had a permit for the handguns as long as he did not conceal them.  The AR-15 and Glock handgun are weapons that were originally developed for the armed forces, law enforcement and/or security guards.  They are designed to be used as weapons to kill as many human beings as possible in the shortest period of time.  They have practically no use for any other purpose, particularly hunting.  And yet, just about anyone in this country can purchase these weapons and even outfit them with large capacity magazines in order to make them even more deadly.  We are already hearing calls for banning these weapons as in the case of other times when weapons of the sort have been used to kill innocent Americans.  Obviously, banning such weapons or making them difficult to obtain would make total sense.  The rights of few gun loving Americans would be affected since most Americans who own guns don’t own these types of weapons and we might be able to keep such weapons out of the hands of individuals such the shooter in Aurora or at least make it more difficult for such a person to acquire the weapons.  We probably could not prevent an attack such as the one in Auroa from ever occurring but by restricting readily available weapons to those like the Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun, we would undoubtedly make such attacks less deadly.  For example, apparently the Aurora shooter quickly exhausted his ammunition in the shotgun.  He would have had to have reloaded to keep firing. That delay might have given more people the chance to escape and/or provided a few seconds during which someone could have engaged with the shooter to stop the attack.  As it was, the shooter just discarded the empty shotgun and began using the much more powerful, rapid fire AR-15. 

As I said, it would make sense to ban or greatly restrict the purchase of weapons like those used in the Aurora shooting.  It would make sense but it will not happen for one reason, actually one organization—the National Rifle Association (NRA).  The NRA controls Washington and the state legislatures in almost all states.  The NRA is feared by every politician at every level.  The NRA has won the battle to make gun ownership in American, the ownership of any kind of gun for any purpose, including to kill, easier than in any other developed country.  Because of the NRA, we will continue to be unable to prevent mass murders such as the one in Aurora or even make them more difficult to commit.  A new Aurora may not happen next week or next month or even next year, but it will happen maybe at the movie theater you or members of your family are attending, maybe at the shopping mall while you are shopping, it could happen anywhere at any time and you can’t prevent it or even make it more difficult neither can or will your representatives.  Why?  The NRA.  The NRA has won.

Please write to the NRA and tell them just how what you think of their victory.  Click here to voice your opinion:  https://www.nrahq.org/contact.asp